I suspect that if this is true the material the stone/crystal is made out of would be important. I am thinking that some stone/crystal may leech various things into the soil that benefit the plant (and other may leech plant toxins).

I really don't know, just my talking out loud.

or maybe they refract light energy or radiowaves or some kind of energy and the refracted result stimulates plant tissues to be more efficient or something?

Try plain quartz crystals. I personally do believe in the whole "spiritual escense" thing =oP Actually, this one can be explained scientificly, somewhat. Quartz crystals do actually vibrate. Its very minute, not something you would notice if you were just holding it or looking at it, but it can be measured. (Check your watch, does it say "quartz?" Then its working with the aid of a vibrating quartz crystal!) I am not sure if there are any studies out there of the effect of crystals on plants in particular, but if anyone comes across one, let me know!

Yes, there is a scientific explanation. The quartz crystal (diode) in your wristwatch is vibrating because there is a battery in there applying an electrical current across it.

Any suggestions on whether the crystal should be buried or just laid on top of the soil next to the plant? Can't hurt to try it. It is an all natural alternative after all.

I think the crystals should be buried.

Well, I suppose it depends on what part of the plant you want to enhance. If you want to stimulate root growth, bury it, if its for the foliage, place it at soil level, if its for the flowers, try hanging them. Of course, you have to consider the kids in your neighborhood. The might see your pretty rocks and "borrow" them!

For more info on crystals, check out a book by Scott Cunningham, I believe its called "Encyclopedia of crystals, gems, and metals." Or something like that! You can find it in the "new age" section.

If you're interested in vibrating crystals and such, you might also consider "Vibrations" by Owen Lehto, "Vibrational Medicine" (why stop with plants?) by Dr. Richard Gerber, "Radionics Interface with the Ether Fields" by David V. Tansley, and "Tuning into Nature" by Dr. Philip S. Callahan. All are available from Acres USA.

Now this is an interesting post. It's funny but one day I started noticing that almost all of my potted plants have stones, crystals, bits of glass, marbles, etc. in their pots. I would just toss little pretty bits onto the top of the soil. Maybe the plants are just responding to the extra attention being paid to them by making their pots look pretty! Or maybe they really do get something from the stones, I guess it's one of lifes mysteries!

plants found my collection of petrified wood... unsettling

You may want to look into Biodynamics. Do a web search for that or "Rudolph Steiner".

: ) boy- the world is getting larger all the time...

if you don't mind a little mumbo-jumbo from the local hippy...

blah, blah crystaline structure, blah blah vibrational frequency, blah blah 'secret life of plants' blah color enhancing light (light, sound, both vibrations, different levels of the same thing)

personal opinion? some plants do better because they like the attention, some do better because they like 'dressing up' some do better because the crystal refracts a bit more light to shaded leaves....

theoretically:
a hematite at the bottom of the pot encourages rooting

quartz is always an energizer,
amythest a 'cleanser'
and carnelian encourages growth.

malachite is toxic to both plants and people ( copper something is the main coloring agent) by the way- though the cacti don't seem to mind it as much (no water, no leaching toxins, maybe?)

A few other thoughts..

Water will run off stones to reach the soil, but the stone helps prevent evaporation by minimizing the amount of exposed soil.

Earthworms and other such beneficial critters will be attracted to the area due to the extra moisture.

Stones absorb heat during the day and release it at night, which may help some plants, especially in early spring and late fall.

Anywhere there's a stone, there will not be a weed competing for nutrients and water. And, unlike organic mulches, stones don't need replacement every year or so.

I don't know abt crystals viberating, etc, but as far as stones, remember that if you examine underneath a rock, it is moist and rocks shade roots, hence a pebble can be considered a "mulch", because it shades the roots and helps keep the soil from drying out.

I think someone mentioned giving plants attention. There is the old story about the woman who had unusually fine african violets. She claimed that it was because she talked to them every day. A student later discovered that just breathing warm moist carbon dioxide onto the african violets was as good or better than talking to them.

There is also a field of the study of movements (vibrations?) and plant growth.

This thread is fun enough to deserve updating, lol.

In a physics sense, everything is just vibrating. A tree is just a semi cohesive grouping of vibrating energy. As is a cell, an organ, a bone, skin, your body. Our perception of things relates a lot to the 'rate' of vibration, or the frequency, however you want to put it. Everything we experience is 'compared to' or filtered by our body. So our body has a certain range of frequencies that it can/will perceive. Stuff outside that, we're oblivious to.

So at one rate of vibration energy is an X Ray... it comes down in speed, and eventually is seen as visible light, colors... it goes down and becomes sound to us.... down farther, we perceive it as a heat... too low and we don't perceive it.

And the 'mass' (objects in our reality), their rate of vibration affects how we perceive them as well. A tree seems solid to us because it is vibrating at a speed that, compared to our body, feels near the same, we perceive both as solid. Things vibrating more slowly, we perceive as 'harder' than our body, comparatively. Things faster, seem more and more permeable, from water all the way up to a gas, and then beyond our conscious perception.

Technically, chemicals we release, like pheremones, are like little tiny, grouped units of vibrating energy. Everything is energy, at least so sez the physicists (not to mention quantum physicists). All the stuff vibrating close to our range, we perceive as reality. Stuff outside our physical perception, we think doesn't exist.

I won't go into the implication of that, but will get back to rocks, crystals and stones. ;-)

Since everything is energy, it's pretty much impossible to put something next to any life form that will NOT affect it. It's only possible to do it so that it's such a mild effect, we (and even the plant) are oblivious to it. Plants are affected by colors of light, by heat and cold, by sound -- as noted above, it's all energy, just at different rates.

Putting a rock (of any kind) in with a plant will matter at least fractionally, just like putting a marble or a gameboy or a stick of plastic etc. It's not just what something leeches (that is a 'major' energy transference, since actual mass is involved, and not just atoms, which it's said we trade with the things/people we're around constantly). Energy here being quite physical, not meta-physical. ;-)

Agriculture researchers discovered that red mulch (red within a certain range of frequency) would affect the yield of certain red fruiting plants, such as tomatoes and strawberries. It is thought that it's a matter of which frequencies are reflected when the sun shines on the plant. Still, if you'd told anybody 20 years ago that putting a red something under a tomato plant would inspire it to better yield, it would have been seen as really silly... but here we are.

Anyway. I don't know the effect of stones on plants. Some far better researched issues are still considered controversial. But given that all things in reality ARE constantly interacting with each other at the atomic level, I think everything in proximity has some effect, the only question is one of 'degree'.

And whether or not plants respond to our 'attention'--I suspect they are at least somewhat affected by it, but even if they aren't--most the point of having a plant is OUR enjoyment, right. So, if you like rocks and crystals, stick 'em in there. Why not?

PJ

PS the comment up there:
>plants found my collection of petrified wood... unsettling
That was truly hilarious. If I'd been drinking at the time, this laptop keyboard would be history!

My birdbath under a dripping faucet drips into a limestone rock with a depression 'bowl' which in turn runs over into a flower bed. Nice damp place for rooting. I stuck a broken piece off a blue hydrangea into this spot and it rooted and bloomed PINK. Enough calcium carbonate leeched off the rock to alter the ph.

{{gwi:1012946}}
The hydrangea in the photo is in bud; now blooming very pink.

This subject fascinates me, as I do believe in the energy of crystals.

After lots of googling, I found only one reference to crystals for plants, and that was that lepidolite was a stone known to be 'helpful for gardening and farming.' The only problem is that lepidolite has a Mohs softness of 2 1/2, which means that water will damage it. By the way, malachite is also low on the softness scale, and will be damaged by water. I guess you could wear a piece of jewelry made with lepidolite while gardening, but I wanted something to put in with my plants that would make them all specimens. :-)

Guess we are left with quartz crystals ... high on the Mohs scale of hardness, almost nothing will damage them. So if I add quartz crystals to my garden this year, and it does better than last year, is it because of the crystals, or because I have gone organic, or because I know a bit more about gardening than I did last year?? Heh.

Well, I know I like having crystals and certain stones on me!! hehehe Plant jewelry, that would be interesting.

Hah, I sell jewelry. I should make plant jewelry! (Actually that would probably be quite fun...thanks for the idea!)

I collect rocks & semiprecious stones from areas that were formerly mined for minerals. Some can have an effect on plants; not because of energies but because of the substances they leach. Limestone can alter the pH, which can affect plant growth. Quartz tends to leach less; when growing in sand, quartz sand is advised. Some plants do not like certain semiprecious stones. For example, certain plants can not tolerate obsidian.

Well I'm in the crowd that understands how the stone/plant thing is energies interacting with one another. (like what PJ said above) ......but I don't tend to use stones and such with my plants and gardening. Unless it's a boulder or much larger stone , I pretty much have learned that the energy interactions to most watch out for with any plant are 1) its plant neighbors and 2 ) the soil /earth spot of where it is growing. We tend to call these companion planting and getting optimal soil health ( i am organic).

But I also have seen some very interesting things when taking smaller sized boulders and creating a circle with them - THIS can affect the growth of plants around it and maybe even quite a ways away from it (like stonehenge type things) Again though I am talking about larger stones and a larger arrangement, not little stones. To go with little stones on top of the soil near the plant, if you wanted to have a good effect on the plants with them, you'd have to make sure they are great energy companions for and with the plant. I have yet to see any variety of plant that was good with the same type of stone. It'd be a very unique situation, something best looked at individually (through energy flow dynamics).....if you are not sure what that is about you could type in "subtle energy flow plants" in any search engine and probably come up with some basic information on it.

I've met someone who is into dowsing and energy fields and such like. He's actually a retired soil scientist, so he has some evidence to back his theories, his name is Harvey Lisle and he wrote the book THE LIVING ROCK DUSTS, I think that's the title anyway. He and Phil Callahan talk in their books about diamagnetic and paramagnetic rocks, and I thought they were just making it up, but no, these are real forces. One lines up with a magnetic field, the other turns perpendicular. Harvey puts rocks on the power points on his land, paramagnetic (granite or volcanic rocks) on the yang points, and diamagnetic (limestone) on the yin points. It makes the energy flow into and out of the earth stronger. It's easy to find these points at least approximately on your land. High points are what he calls "yang", as the energy flows upward into the sky. You can read about this, it's called "The fair weather field" and is why people feel good on mountain tops. It's also why when the energy flow is facilitated by falling rain, high points are likely to be struck by lightning. Conversely, low points and in particular low points where there is water at the surface or flowing underground are places where ions flow down into the earth. My husband can see the yang points, at dusk the energy looks like light. We both can feel a low point near us where water is flowing underground to a spring nearby, it creates a feeling like you are sinking.
There was an article in our paper back when there was a big solar flare, warning of possible power outages. To my surprise, it was accompanied by a map of paramagnetic and diagmagnetic rock across the US. If I remember correctly, it would go straight down when it hit diagmetic rock, but would spread out sideways when it hit the paramagnetic stuff, and could induce power surges in electrical lines. We are mostly diagmagnetic here in the southeast, lots of paragmagnetic stuff on the PNW. Donna

From http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_n4_v107/ai_20549276 And the article has a lot more info! Please particularly see the part in this paragraph about 'milky quartz stone.'

All stones on the desert surface preserve moisture in the soil beneath them, at least for a time. This is ancient knowledge: prehistoric Hohokam farmers of the Sonoran Desert used rocks as mulch around their agave plantings. In addition, translucent calcareous and siliceous minerals can transmit visible light, in some cases to depths approaching two inches, thus supporting photosynthesis below ground and under complete cover, much like a greenhouse. Measurements made by plant physiologist Frank Salisbury, of Utah State University, showed that about 1.5 percent of the sunlight striking the surface of a milky quartz stone penetrated a thickness of one inch; this means that as much energy reaches an algal colony beneath this stone on a sunny autumn day as is available to a potted plant in a typical, well-lighted office.

How fine and amazing this Earth!

Here is a link that might be useful: FindArticles Desert Rocks

I've used rocks with crystal around some of my plants. The fact is there are places in NY State (where I live) - that let you dig for "diamonds", which are really just quartz crystals. They dynamite some rock, and people can come in for a small fee and take as much as they can carry.

We went there once for a lark, but it was so much trouble trying to chisel out these crystals that I decided just to take the big chunks of rock with the crystals in them and use them for landscaping. It's a pleasant effect when the sun shines. I can't say I've noticed much difference in plant growth, but it might help NY's economy if gardeners tried this.

On the metaphysical side, if one believes in the "sentience of vegetable matter", which Edgar Allan Poe postulated in the Fall of The House Of Usher, than maybe crystal therapy would be a good thing. I believe in plant sentience myself, that's why i think being a vegetarian is bogus, at least when you consume animals youu are eating the creatures that are murdering plants.

Look up key words "diamagnetic water" in google, this seems to have a lot to do with plants. I have done some experimenting with electronics on plants, crystals, and the human body in proximity to eachother. The instruments I have are not accurate enough to quantify any meaningful data concerning crystals effects on plants or body proximity to plants. The results are not repeatable. However there is a measurable corelation between fields of energy crystals ,plants, and body. I'm interested from the standpoint of scientific and spiritual. I think the crystals have a resonance that is similar to a radio antenna. If that is true then there would be possibly hundreds of variables in selecting the proper crystals for proximity to plants, not to sound sceptical, I believe it would work for humans as well as plants. Incedentally, plants, trees, and humans have thousands of volts throughout and around them as an electrical field. Also crystals, particularly granite, can generate electricity from local gravity fields not unlike a battery.

Has anyone seen "greenfingers", a movie with H Mirren. It tells of two good uses for quartz crystal..

Hi all! My first Post - I've been getting into my Greenthumb side of life and have been looking at the possibility of benefits of Precious Gems and Stones, even the Semi-Precious Minerals.

I've found a few ideas and insights in the few posts I read.

I wanted to add a note of interest for everyone here.

I found on Ebay a few listings for Paydirt, that contains Gold, Silver, Quartz, Malachite, and according to articles on the www that I found through Google - they are all Calcite Minerals.

And, most specifically - they are all "Diamonds in the Rough"!

My question at the moment is whether the Stones and Crystals that are damaged by water, are less damaged by water if they are still in there rough form?

My ideas that sparked my interest in using the Precious Minerals and Ores in, on, and around my Plants/Flowers/Trees is an attempt to create a Lucious, Enriched, And Humid Soil!

I know for a fact, that if the Soil Contains Rocks, especially Rocks that absorb Heat. Roots love a nice Warm and Humid Soil. Especially seeds! Rocks keep the soil warm over the cool and frosty nights. I found some Rocks, down by the Railroad Tracks that have a High Iron Content and can actually hold a Magnet to them. I'm sure that they're some sort of Falling Star or Meteorite of some sort and even more so probably falling debris from Haleys Comet. And, Yes - My Plants love them. For the Iron Chellate they produce and for the Large Amounts of Heat they collect and store.

I also use rocks for my plants in the sense that I can't use the clay soil around here very well. It just holds water. My solution, was to place a large rock down in to the soil, close to the plant or in the same container - so that I could lift the rock to check the moisture content of the soil. It works great, I can let the top layer of the soil dry out completely, and without scraping the dirt or guessing. I just lift the rock and look. It's usually still rich dark looking dirt just below the crusted top layer. My Problems with using Goold Ole Dirt from the Yard for Planter Pots is solved.

I hopeing that the Precious Minerals and Ore Paydirt will not only look really nice and add another later to watch dry out, but will hopefully add some nice missing nutrients to the soil.

I've read that the Calcite's will in fact break down nitrates and turn them in to usuable nitrogen, faster. For example, grass cuttings, pine needles, fall foliage of dry leaf material will break down with calcite faster then without. May most likely be from the heat that the rocks produce, agitating moisture in the compost mixes and causing the soil to dry up then break apart.

Wish you all well!

Moonshine~

I use quartz and sometimes a rose quartz crystal in my plants. So, far so good. This is a good topic with lots of good feedback.

Happy Gardening,
Ange

I'm doing an experiment where I took two clippings the same size from the same plant in the same potting soil rooted them inside, water the same time and same amount everyday. I transplanted them into larger pots, although one pot is a little taller then the other its level with the same amount of potting in both. Now after seeing stuff about putting quartz crystals in the pot on the internet and seeing the difference in pictures, I wanted to see for my self. A month later the one with quartz, which us hurried half way in the soil, is much bigger flowering and noticeably healthier and covered in waayyy more white hairs then the one with quartz as well as more then any of my other tomato plants.. The other still has hairs but not nearly and long or as much. I

Hey all. I've heard a recommendation from someone. Hippy culture grower type.... Recommended that I stab the plant in the stem with a tiny piece (like the size of a grain of coarse salt) ... this intern will stress the plant and upset it and forge it to grow lovely and strong. The plants I have dont need much and I have stressed them a bit. So they used to it. The basil i planted next to each other is also gonna become part of my research. But for now i have planted a piece (more like a shard)more than a grain into the stem piercing into the stem and lodging it like a tooth. It's stuck. Being a nature lover I have always ponderes natures magical wonders when out hiking mountains and finding crystals growing in nature like the ones the sell in gift and novelty stores. If this would occur in nature how gorgeous. Anyway I'd convinced someone else to try it on there plans and they have given it a baby's little tooth size chunk of quartz right into the stem while TheHighlyCool is already "sprayed and spikes on the leafs" The quartz will enhance TheHighlyCoolness of the plants according to the basis that it will grow madly like a free spirit with the quartz to keep her going. I will report back as we did this now after thinking about it once. Ask yourself if you were merlin in today's research field.... Wouldn't you just test it. I'd say go for it, i just stabbed my plant and it knows I'm her carer and wouldn't want to hurt her and that's exactly why you are here. Go for it!!!